[Westheim]

2071 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (92-70) vs. Las Vegas Aces (93-71)

After ten long years, the Raccoons had made it back to the playoffs, meeting the Aces there for the first time since 2019. There had been three CLCS meetings with them in the past, of which the Raccoons won only one, sweeping Vegas in 1996, but taking losses in six games in both 2018 and 2019.

First up was setting the playoff roster. Due to Tyler Wharton, Jaden Wilson, and Dan Graham being on the DL or on rehab on August 31, the Raccoons had some replacements to do. Jack Hamel had also gone on the DL in September, theoretically offering up a free replacement, although it was gonna be taken by the group above.

The playoff rotation had pretty much set itself with Val Centeno having three horrible outings in a row to finish the season, so he was out of the picture, and we’d go with Walla, Jimmyboy, Gaytan, and Vinny Morales, in that order. Centeno was then left off the playoff roster entirely as the Raccoons went with their regular bullpen through the season: Doster, Graham, Holzmeister, Jackson, McMahan, Rios, Rismiller, and Valentin. The Aces had quite the balanced lineup, so a third lefty reliever was not the worst choice one could make, especially over a righty long man that had piled up a 12+ ERA in his last three outings.

All regular position players besides Jack Hamel were healthy. The lineup regulars and the catchers were obvious selections, but whom was Wilson going to replace on the roster? The options included Woodley, Luebbert (which would be enormously bold), Guerrero, Colter, and van Otterdijk. With the Aces rocking only right-handed starters for the playoffs, removing lefty sticks would be not ideal, and removing the only capable backup infielder was borderline foolish. In the end we kept Guerrero on the roster and removed George van Otterdijk, who was none too happy about his exclusion. This gave the Coons an extra centerfield backup, and more competent outfield D overall, since van Otterdijk was easily the worst in that category.

Apart from that it remained to be seen how much the #4 offense and #3 pitching in the CL could go against the Aces. We brought a +103 run differential and average-to-good rankings in most major team stats, but notably didn’t lead the league in any of those. The Aces had tied for most runs scored in the CL (although the difference between the teams was not huge) and had led the league in stolen bases with 172. They had also allowed the second-fewest runs scored, for a +120 run differential. They didn’t track worse than fifth in any category worth waffling about.

The Aces had however a number of injures: pitchers Ricardo Montoya, who was older than the sun and moon, but still giving the Coons fits whenever they met him, was out for the year, as were relievers Pedro Negron and Roberto Navarro. Outfielder Alfredo Rosado was also out for the year, at least as far as we cared. He had a sprained thumb and was unable to play in the CLCS, but was an option for the World Series.

The real issue I saw was the all-righty Aces rotation and the heavily right-handed Coons lineup… Since Jaden Wilson got put in the lineup for the opener, our bench was comprised of Woodley, Colter, Guerrero, Luebbert, and whichever catcher I felt like putting there, Brown to start the series.

The Raccoons made their 25th playoff attempt, second only to the Thunder (30), while the Aces broke the tie with the Loggers for the bottom spot in the rankings, and made their eighth playoffs. They had won the championship twice, while the Coons had eight titles. Our last set of rings had come in 2054, while the Aces had taken theirs in 2018-19 (see above…).

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It’s been a while. The playoff games will be presented in the usual 2-3-1-1 format of old. Note that I have next week off from the soul mill, so if the Coons take the pennant, the World Series will be played Monday, not straight after the CLCS. If the Coons lose, it depends on the mood whether I wrap it up from there today or need some time to foam and froth.